Lyndsay Faye

“It’s been an adventure. We took some casualties over the years. Things got broken. Things got lost…” –Anthony Bourdain Without an instant’s hesitation, I confess: I write about the late Anthony Bourdain as an avid admirer. Despite his worldwide celebrity chef status, in recent days, I’ve been gratified to note that he’ll be remembered first…

Lyndsay Faye is the author of five critically acclaimed books: Dust and Shadow, about Sherlock Holmes’s attempt to hunt down Jack the Ripper; The Gods of Gotham, which was nominated for the Edgar Award for Best Novel; Seven for a Secret; The Fatal Flame; and Jane Steele. Her latest work is a collection of short…

It is a fairly widely known fact that I will watch practically anything relevant to Sherlock Holmes and walk away happier than I was previously, always excepting Rupert Everett and his pair of execrably brooding eyebrows in “The Case of the Silk Stocking.” (Each of them, both singly and at times even in concert, gave…

When I moved to New York City, there were three mystery-centric bookshops still in operation—now that (tragically) only one remains, you have to assume Otto Penzler of The Mysterious Bookshop must be doing something right. All four of my novels were launched at his store, but I first got to know Otto by making the…

In this most devoutly-to-be-wished encounter between two of fiction’s greatest detectives, the role of Miss Jane Marple is elaborated by Ashley Weaver, that of Mr. Sherlock Holmes by Lyndsay Faye. This is the first of a group of posts commemorating the 70th anniversary of Mystery Writers of America, an organization whose members have contributed this exclusive…

You only live once. Right? Chances are, unless you believe in reincarnation and are also peculiarly in touch with your past lives on this harsh and often beautiful planet, then your experience will be confined to one existence (never discounting the kindly tips you’ll pick up from friends and strangers). Perhaps you are a 32-year…

An article in Slate by Ruth Graham that appeared last week decrying the popularity of YA fiction among adult readers has created quite the backlash from other media forums (including to name a few, Esquire, Flavorwire, CNN, and the Washington Post). While both sides of the issue—scholarly proponents of a higher culture of readership and…

We Sherlock Holmes fanatics are suckers for references (direct or indirect, even vague nods, some of us aren’t terribly picky) to the original stories. John Watson suffered one, possibly two, wounds in Afghanistan. Sherlock Holmes keeps tobacco in his Persian slipper. The dog in the nighttime was innocent of any wrongdoing—or action, for that matter.…

In a recent interview with Digital Spy writer Catherine Earp posted on the fifth of January, BBC Sherlock’s Martin Freeman is quoted as saying of the program, “No-one is a buffoon in it, and what I really like about it is that it’s writing for grown-ups, where you're not having to cheat the audience. I’m…

Once upon a time, a hero who feared losing everything—including those most dear to him, though such individuals were few and far between—died in order to bring down a criminal mastermind who had brought far too much evil into the world. The hero was believed to have been defeated utterly by his friends, was duly…